


Popped

by poppycurls



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Bubbled, Crying, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Episode: s03e25 Bubbled, Familial Love, Family, Friendship, Gen, Hugs, Hurt/Comfort, Love, Missing Scene, One Shot, Platonic Love, Season 3 Finale, Season Finale, Season/Series 03
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-13
Updated: 2016-08-13
Packaged: 2018-08-08 10:20:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,146
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7753906
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/poppycurls/pseuds/poppycurls
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Spoilers for Season 3 finale: Bubbled. The scenes between Steven's rescue and Steven asking Garnet about Rose, plus a few, about the gems reacting to getting Steven back. Fluff heaven.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Popped

**Author's Note:**

> When I see the way you look  
> Shaken by how long it took  
> I could do about anything  
> I could even learn how to love like you

It’s cold in space, which is something that surprises Steven. Of course, he expected it to be cold, but he wasn’t prepared for the numbness that creeps up his fingers and toes after the fleeting warmth of the battle with the Ruby. Cold, he assumed, was a problem for humans. Well, full humans, anyway. 

 

But his chest still hurts from the cut across it, and his joints still ache from fighting. He would heal them, but space freezes his mind, and it’s all he can do to hold back tears, which would only make him colder. His bubble is thin and light, and it leaks space’s numbing temperature onto Steven’s skin. Instead, he curls into himself, and thinks. Thinking hurts, he comes to realize, so he just stares. Time flies by, and what seem like mere moments to Steven are actually hours. 

 

Blackness comes, turning his mind to mush and his vision to nothing. He curls up tighter, and gives himself up to sleep. 

 

He first knows something is wrong when he feels his bubble break. It shatters, cracking after being pounded repeatedly by some sharp object. Steven knows this is bad, and the fact that he’ll probably not make it back to Earth crosses his mind in a panic. Warm air surrounds him, easing his lungs but increasing his throbbing headache. Warm air … it takes Steven a few moments to sluggishly process this, and he opens his eyes, squinting against the brightness. He’s in the pod, and his can see the outline of a Ruby pinning him down, hair taking up most of his line of sight and barking orders to someone behind her. He strains to listen; to figure out his fate. 

 

“Steven, I need you to wake up. You’re safe now.” This jars Steven back to reality and his vision clears enough to see Garnet. When she gets no answer, she looks behind her. “Pearl, I need you to get-”

 

She breaks off as Steven reaches up to touch her face, still groggy but longing to be closer to her. True, he hits her unceremoniously in the nose rather than the cheek he was aiming for, but Garnet is quick and grabs his hand before he can drop it down again. “Steven?” she asks, and there’s something in her voice that he can’t quite place. 

 

“Garnet.” It takes one word for chaos to break loose. 

 

Garnet sits back on her knees, releasing him and releasing a large breath, and Pearl is instantly at his side, propping him up. The shadows under eyes her disheveled hair don’t escape Steven. Amethyst is at his other side, pupils wide and and hands shaking as she reaches out to touch him. 

 

“Are you guys okay?” Steven asks, worried. He barely finishes his sentence before Pearl bursts into tears, clutching him to her chest and sobbing into his shoulder. His shirt and hair become soaked quickly. He looks at Amethyst for help, and is even more startled to see tears in her eyes, too, falling freely. 

 

“Are we okay? Are  _ we _ okay? Steven, we’re not the ones who’ve been lost in space!” She’s hysterical. 

 

Oh, yeah. Suddenly he understands the quaver in Garnet’s voice. Unsure of what to say, Steven frees one of his arms from Pearl and opens it out to Amethyst. She falls willingly onto him. “I hate you,” she mutters, hitting him lightly on the leg. “We thought you were dead, man.”

 

“Don’t you  _ ever  _ scare us like that again,” Pearl says, going for strict, but the whole thing is ruined by her muffled voice and still shaking form. 

 

“You guys came after me,” Steven says, now getting emotional too. “Thank you.” The two gems sit up, wiping their eyes and sliding gentle thumbs over Steven’s now wet ones. 

 

Pearl still holds Steven up, as if afraid to let him go. “Of course we came for you, Steven!” Her normally placid voice shoots up a couple octaves. “Did you think we weren’t coming? Oh -”

 

“Chill, Pearl, you’re scaring him.” Amethyst rolls her eyes at Steven. “Nearly tore out her hair on the way up here. Nearly tore my hair, actually. She yanked it when we finally found you, she was so scared.”

 

“Well, what can I say? I needed to hold onto something and it was at arm’s length. Arm’s height, actually.”

 

This gets all three of them to laugh, and Steven can’t help but grimace in pain as it jostles his gut. Garnet kneels in front of him in an instant, draping a blanket on his shoulders and pushing hair out of his eyes. “How are you doing?” She asks, quiet. “Just keep yourself warm and you’ll be better in no time.” She turns, lifting her glasses to rub away tears, a gesture that Steven doesn’t miss. He gets up and stumbles right into her open embrace, laughing as he does so. Garnet laughs too, pressing her lips to his hair. 

 

Steven untangles himself from her in order to adjust his blanket, which was slipping off and irritating his cold toes and fingers. He looks up to see the Crystal Gems watching him carefully, all with wet faces and watery smiles. “You guys are the best,” he announces, smiling. “But please stop looking so worried. If you keep doing that, your face will stick.” 

 

That gets a smile out of Amethyst and Garnet, and last of all Pearl, and before he knows it, he begins to laugh, a belly laugh that helps wash his healing powers over him. Already, space seems so far away, and Steven wants to stay in this moment forever. Garnet wraps her arms around the other gems’ necks and pulls them close, giggling. “We are pretty great, aren’t we?”

 

Pearl and Amethyst laugh, once again mopping their faces with the back of their hands. Steven watches their hug, overwhelmed by all the love he sees flowing between them. “I love you guys so much,” he mutters, not intending to be heard, but of course they hear and he’s being reached out to by three arms, pulling him in the hug and ruffling his hair. 

 

“So much,” he whispers into the crook of Amethyst’s elbow, and it’s met with a ‘we love you too, Steven’ back. He’s not sure who it comes from, perhaps all three. 

 

Though already feeling immensely better, Steven curls up with his head in Garnet’s lap, and she plays with his hair, lulling him into what would soon become a more peaceful sleep. Amethyst flops beside him, making faces at him, and Pearl fusses with the blankets, running long fingers down Steven’s back. 

 

He smiles, warm and happy, and drifts off once again, this time with the knowledge that he’s surrounded by three of the most amazing people, well, gems, he knows. His family. And because of that, Steven is absolutely sure that everything will be okay.   

**Author's Note:**

> When I see the way you act  
> Wondering when I'm coming back  
> I could do about anything  
> I could even learn how to love  
> Like you  
> -  
> @paulblofish on tumblr ! Anyway I'm trash for h/c and this has probably been my favorite scene in the show so far ... anyway cheers! Have a good day love. Also, comments and kudos are my bestest friends.


End file.
